


Not Ready To Lose You Again

by prouvairablehulk



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: FIx It, Multi, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-11-04 07:17:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10986081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prouvairablehulk/pseuds/prouvairablehulk
Summary: “I thought you were dead. Barry said you were dead.”“Rumors, greatly exaggerated, you know how it goes.” says Snart, with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I wasn’t kidding about the wedding seating.”“That’s – not happening.” says Iris.“Like hell it isn’t. I almost got eaten my a shark for this wedding, Miss West. It is happening whether you like it or not at this point.”





	Not Ready To Lose You Again

Iris West has done her crying. She spent a week on her father’s couch – the one where she first held Barry (oh, Barry) - and then three days in her home with Wally – the one that Barry bought her (oh, Barry) – and then two more with Linda in Coast City. And then she went home, to the house that Barry had bought her, to the home the two of them had built, and took a shower and put on a good dress, and sat down in front of her mirror, and stared at the make up on the table. It’s an armor, a shield, a front that helps her deal with everything. She puts it on, one step at a time, and then contemplates what lipstick to wear. 

“You know, I think the only shade of lipstick you don’t own is the one that would match his suit.” 

Iris’ eyes snap up and meet the ice-blue ones in the mirror. Leonard Snart’s reflection smirks. 

“I thought you were dead. Barry said you were dead.”

“Rumors, greatly exaggerated, you know how it goes.” says Snart, with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I wasn’t kidding about the wedding seating.”

“That’s – not happening.” says Iris, and reaches for a tube. 

“Like hell it isn’t. I almost got eaten my a shark for this wedding, Miss West. It is happening whether you like it or not at this point.”

Iris is – holy god, she’s laughing. The last time she laughed was with Barry on the couch right before –

She stops, mid-giggle. Snart winces like he understands. Now that – that’s interesting. She didn’t think he kept anyone close enough to lose, except maybe his sister. Her inner reporter is screeching in delight.

“Who did you lose?” she asks. Subtlety doesn’t get you anywhere fast. 

“Does it matter?” asks Snart. Iris spins around on her stool to face him. 

“Yes, it matters.” 

Snart rolls his eyes. It’s a good look on him. Who’s she kidding, everything is a good look on him. 

“Mick. Twice.” His face is twisted, like he can’t believe he’s admitting this. 

“Wait, are you and he –“

“No.” Snart interrupts, before she can finish, face a mask of horror. “Oh god why did you give me that mental image?”

“What mental image?”

“Did you ever, you know, sleep with your brother?” Snart tosses out. Iris screws up her whole face in violent protest. Snart spreads his hands, like ‘there you have it’. 

“Fuck you.” says Iris, before she can think better of it.

“On any other day, I’d consider it, but I have a slight intangibility issue.” 

Iris raises an eyebrow, and he passes his hand through her wall. 

“Ta da.” he says. Leonard Snart is a dork, and Iris needs to re-evaluate her whole life. 

“You’re here for a reason, aren’t you?” she demands. 

“Central City needs it’s hero.” 

“Barry said you told him something – that the Flash should always be a hero. Did you mean it?” 

Snart gives a non-committal little shrug. 

“Did he tell you I hit on him about five times too?”

“Lucky him.” says Iris, and turns back to her makeup mirror. 

“Miss West,” drawls Snart, hand on his heart, “you say that as if I haven’t hit on you too.” 

She smiles. For the first time in a long time, it doesn’t feel fake. 

“We could get him back. That’s why I’m here.” 

“As much as I feel like I’m looking a gift horse in the mouth, I’ve gotta know. Why the hell do you want to bring him back?” 

For the first time, Snart away, like he can’t bare to look at her any longer. He scuffs one incorporeal boot through the floor. 

“Why do you?” 

Iris huffs. 

“Because I love – oh. Oh! Oh, fuck me.” 

Snart – she supposes she should think of him as Leonard, now. Actually, no, not Leonard, that was almost as bad as Bartholomew. 

“You got a nickname?” she asks, getting up. 

“Len will do.” he says. “Are we doing this?”

“We’re doing this.”

***

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” says Cisco, when Iris walks in with Len floating behind her. “We have got to stop practicing fucking necromancy.”

“You’re so cute when you swear.” teases Cindy, who appears to have made significant in-roads into Cisco’s candy stash. Len weighs her up, appraising. 

“I need to introduce her to Mick.” he tells Iris. 

“I can hear you, asshole.” snaps Cisco. “Stop trying to steal my girl.”

“I’m not trying, Cisco. I’m – expanding?” 

Cisco stops, tilts his head, considers. 

“He go for that sort of thing?” 

Len grins, already high on success-adrenaline. 

“Big puppy. Likes taking orders, if he trusts you.” 

Cisco’s eyes glaze over. Cindy looks intrigued. 

“Who are we talking about?”

“You got a Heatwave in your universe?” Iris asks. “Also, seriously? He’s a sub?”

“Switch.” says Len, with a shrug. “And I only know because we got drunk together when we were teenagers. Stop looking at me like I’m going to admit we fucked. We didn’t.” 

Len turns away from her, so he’s fully facing Cisco.

“Iris and I need your help with something. Tech, that would simulate super-speed, possibly engineer a connection to the speedforce.”

“And if I do it? What’s in it for me?”

“Well done, Cisco, you’re getting better at negotiating.”

“That’s not an answer, Cold.”

“A chance at a Nobel, Mick’s mobile number, and Barry back.” says Iris, because as charming as Len is being, she’s got a mission here. 

“Why didn’t you lead with that last one? Yes, I can try. Wally should be able to help me. You think we can fool the Speedforce into accepting a Speedster Android?”

“I know we can.” says Len. “I can see that possible future. I can see all the possible futures. It gives me migraines and puts me in sensory overload, if I think about it too hard. Anyway, I have a plan.” 

Cisco pokes Len in the arm – or rather attempts to and ends up running his arm most of the way through Len’s chest. The yelp he gives is the most dramatically over-the-top thing Iris has ever heard. 

“Holy fuck you’re a ghost.” 

“I’m a – Force ghost, for lack of a better term. There is the possibility I could become tangible again, further down the timeline.” 

“Right then. Okay, I’ll get to building, with Wally and Cynthia’s help. You can use Gideon to call the Legends, if you want?” 

Len looks back at Iris, and then shakes his head. 

“Not yet. I’m already talking to Mick, and I think Iris needs the company.” 

Iris smiles, grateful. She’s still grateful, three weeks later, when Len’s become her force ghost companion. It’s not that her family and friends are bad, or doing it wrong, or not able to comfort her – its more that Len doesn’t assume that she’s already broken to the point where repair is an intense multi-session operation. He gets that she’s hurting, and doesn’t expect anything else. She drinks hot cocoa the way he likes it with the mini marshmallows and it grows on her, as much as he does. They’re sitting on the couch in a way that would be absolutely classified as cuddling were he corporeal, when Wally races in. 

“Cisco did it! It’s done!” 

Iris jolts upright. 

“Now comes the hard part.” says Len, and gets up from his seat. 

***  
Barry collapses in a breathless heap, still clinging to Iris’ hand. Cisco and Cindy take a step back from where they’d had their hands on Iris’ shoulders, and Iris lets Barry’s hand fall to cover her mouth as she stares at the empty place where Len had been. 

“See you later, Iris.” he'd said. “Enjoy your fairytale.”

And then he’d erupted in a burst of blue that seemed to encompass everything and nothing at once. 

“Iris.” says Barry, and she has to fall to her knees, to hold him close, to kiss him. 

“Iris,” he says, when they part, “where did Snart go?” 

“Oh, thank god.” says Iris. “Otherwise this could have gotten very awkward.”

Barry laughs, and Iris laughs with him, and for the first time since she realized she loved Barry it feels like she’s missing something. 

“Oh, fuck, we need him.” she says, and it overlaps with Barry saying ‘he’s a part of us now’, and this is what completeness feels like. 

They call the Waverider, and iris distracts Sara Lance and Ray Palmer while Cisco and Cindy sneak up behind the crew and scurry away with Mick Rory, who looks an absolute wreck. They’re in the Time Stream and away before anyone on the crew beyond Jax and Amaya seem to notice he’s missing, and those two have ben swapping smirks from the get-go. 

“Don’t worry about Mick.” says Iris. “He’s being well-cared for.” 

“Heh.” says Barry. “Well cared for? More like well-fuc-“

“Barry!” scolds Iris, grinning. “Language!” 

“Well-dommed?” Barry says, that mischievous little grin playing over his face. Iris laughs, again, freer than she’s felt in months. Sara’s looking at them like they’re mad when they land. 

“This is where Snart died.” she tells them. 

“She kissed me, right before I died.” comes a whisper in Iris’ ear. “I think I’ll like my Welcome Home kisses better.” 

Iris clutches Barry’s arm. 

“You feel him?” he asks. 

“Hear him.” she tells him. Barry nods, and pulls her into his arms, and runs. He runs and runs and runs until they can see the blue swirl of a portal and Len standing in it, arms folded over his chest. 

“You took your time.” he tells Iris. 

“Get fucked.” she tells him, and pulls him close by the front of his jacket. The three of them collapse onto the floor of the ruined Oculus chamber. 

“You’re heavier than you used to be.” says Iris, pushing at Len’s arm to get him off her.

“I used to be cooler, too.” he replies. Iris groans.

“Lenny.” says Barry.

“Scarlet.” purrs Len. 

“You know, traditionally one thanks one’s rescuers with a kiss.” says Barry, much more smoothly than when he was practicing it in the mirror before they set out. Len’s smile is positively predatory as he reels Barry in for a long and searching kiss that has Iris more than a little bit hot under the collar. When they part for air, Iris insinuates herself between them. 

“My turn.” she says. Barry leans forward when she does, keeping his back pressed against hers. It’s a nice feeling. She wants more of it. 

“We need a room, right now.” she says, as soon as she removes her teeth from Len’s bottom lip. Barry’s red as a fire hydrant and Iris can feel how turned on he is, and she knows she’s not much better. 

“I second that motion.” says Len, and Barry superspeeds the limb untangling process and starts pulling them towards the Waverider. Iris catches sight of Sara’s stunned expression before they make in inside and Len starts laughing, free and happy and proud. 

Yes, thinks Iris, this is what we needed. 

It’s – a little blurry after that, to be honest. Mostly because it turns out that as good as Len is at giving orders in other contexts, in this one he’d rather receive. And that’s exactly the way Iris had dreamed it might go, when she was first contemplating this. Barry’s eager and selfless and vibrating like always and Len’s – very good with his tongue, and apparently really enjoys being told how good he’s being. 

When they’re done, they lie tangled together in a sweaty, sated mess. 

“You know,” says Barry, stroking his fingers over Iris’ arm, “we don’t have to go back just yet.” 

Iris makes a ‘go on’ sort of noise, and Len, who’s chest they’ve both pillowed their heads on, chuckles a little. 

“We could pick a spot in time, take the jumpship, just take some time to ourselves.” 

“That would be nice.” says Iris. “Can we get Len a ring while we’re there?”

Barry grins and nods, and Len’s whole body notably relaxes. 

“A vacation?” Len says. “That sounds just fantastic.” 

They arrive back in Central after a month for them and a day for the others, to find Mick leaning against one of the medical gurneys arguing about combustion engines with Wally while Cindy rubs a salve of some sort into his burn scars. Cisco sits in his usual chair, grinning a little lustfully, and Joe and Julian holding some kind of mildly scandalized conference in a corner.

“Red’s your color.” says Barry, to Wally, and the room comes alive. It’s not until Mick and Len are awkwardly backslap-hugging each other that Cisco notices the ring and says something about it, loudly. Barry and Iris look at each other, and then, in slight alarm, at Joe. Joe shakes his head. 

“Fuck, I need a drink.”

“I’ll buy?” offers Len, off Iris and Barry’s looks. 

“I like you better already, Snart.”


End file.
